333.87 
H742g 


GIANT 
WE-THE-PEOPLE 

AND 

JUDGE  LANDIS' 
AWARD 

by 
HENRY  K.HOLSMAN 

and 
RALPH  PARLETTE 


Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date  stamped  below.  A 
charge  is  made  on  all  overdue 
books. 

University  of  Illinois  Library 


MflY  -5  1945 


27214 


Giant 
We  -The  -  People 

»  and 

Judge  Landis'  Award 


By 
HENRY  K.  HOLSMAN 

and 
RALPH  PARLETTE 


Published  by 
PARLETTE-PADGET  COMPANY 

122  SOUTH  MICHIGAN  AVENUE 

CHICAGO 


Copyright  1922  by 

PARLETTE-PADGET  COMPANY 

CHICAGO 

Copyrighted  in  Great  Britain 
All  Rights  Reserved 


I 

^a,<v 

CONTENTS 


J  I— WORKING  FOR  THE  GIANT,  WE  GAIN 
Giant  We-the-PeopIe  Rises 
See!    Three  Kinds  of  Pay!                                 Pages 
How  Our  Wages  Have  Gone  Up 7-14 

II— WORKING  FOR  THE  SNAKE,  WE  LOSE 

Capital  and  Labor  Can't  Beat  Each  Other 

Heads  Listen  to  the  Snake 

Hands  Listen  to  the  Snake 

Labor  Waste  the  Greatest  Waste 15-23 

III— THE  CHICAGO  BUILDING  BATTLEFIELD 

Why  Buildings  Cost  so  Much 

Back  to  the  Constitution! 26-31 

IV— BACK  TO  WORK  FOR  GIANT  WE-THE- 
PEOPLE 

Rules  of  Uniform  Agreement 
Arbitration  Instead  of  Strikes 
Trade  Tools  Interchangeable 
A  Big  "Make-Work"  Snake 
No  Employers'  Association  Monopoly 
No  Union  Monopoly 
No  Limit  on  Work 
Letting  the  Boss  Work 
Killing  Jurisdictional  Strikes 
Anybody  May  Do  Small  Jobs 

rSome  Stuck  to  the  Snake 
But  Some  Propose  Progress 32-39 

fe>      V— THE  MAJORITY  MUST  RULE 

We  Need  More  Law 
What  of  the  Unions? 
The  Snake  and  the  Giant  Battle  Today 40-45 


r 
k 


46211 


Giant  We  -The  -People 

and 

Judge  Landis'  Award 

THE  SNAKE  is  always  taking  the  joy  out  of 
life.     We  read  in  the  Bible  how  the  Snake 
took  the  joy  out  of  the   lives   of   Adam 
and  Eve. 

We  read  in  the  papers  every  day  how  the  Snake 
is  taking  the  joy  out  of  our  lives. 

You  remember  how  the  Snake  took  the  joy  out 
of  life  in  Aesop's  time,  two  thousand  years  ago. 
In  any  bookstore  you  will  find  a  book  of  Aesop's 
Fables  with  this  fable  in  it. 

THE  STOMACH  AND 
THE  MEMBERS 

One  day  some  of  the  Members  of  the 
Body  got  to  thinking  that  they  were  doing 
all  the  work  while  the  Stomach  was  getting 
all  the  food.  So  they  held  a  meeting  and 
agreed  to  quit  work  and  starve  the  Stomach 


6  Giant  We-The-People 

until  he  would  do  his  share.  On  a  certain 
day  they  all  walked  out.  The  Hands  refused 
to  carry  food  to  the  Mouth.  The  Mouth 
refused  to  open  up  Jor  business.  The 
Teeth  refused  to  chew  if  the  Mouth  did 
open  up. 

At  first  the  strike  was  a  great  success. 
But  after  a  few  days  of  success,  the  Mem- 
bers got  so  weak  they  could  hardly  cele- 
brate their  success.  The  Hands  could 
hardly  move.  The  Mouth  was  "bone  dry." 
The  Teeth  could  hardly  chatter.  And 
finally  the  Stomach  said,  "Don't  you  see 
if  you  dont  feed  me,  none  of  us  can  live? 
You  cant  do  without  me  and  I  cant  do 
without  you." 

Then  the  Members  saw  that  the  Stomach 
was  just  as  important  as  they  were.  They 
saw  they  must  keep  the  Body  in  good 
condition,  then  all  would  prosper.  They 
must  all  work  together,  each  at  his  own 
job,  for  the  common  good  of  all.  They 
filled  the  Stomach. 

The  Snake  of  selfishness  and  greed  took  the  joy 
out  of  that  Body.  But  all  the  Members  swatted 
the  Snake,  agreed  to  work  together  for  the  Body 
and  "they  all  lived  happily  ever  after." 


Working  for  the  Giant, 
We  Gain 

THE  BIBLE  lives  and  Aesop's  Fables  live 
because  they  are  as  true  today  as  they  were 
thousands  of  years  ago.  All  the  people  in 
the  land  are  the  Members  of  that  Aesop's  Fable 
Man.  His  name  is  Giant  We-The-People.  All  the 
heads  make  his  great  Head  to  think  and  direct. 
All  the  eyes  make  his  great  Eyes  to  look  ahead. 
All  the  hands  make  his  great  Hands  to  do  the 
handiwork.  All  the  feet  make  his  great  Feet  to 
fetch  and  carry.  All  the  money  circulates  in  his 
great  veins  to  distribute  nourishment  as  needed 
to  every  member.  All  the  land  and  buildings  are 
his  property  to  use  and  to  improve  for  the  next 
generation. 

For  thousands  of  years  the  people  were  scat- 
tered in  Snake-ridden  savagery  over  the  land.  It 
was  "every  man  for  himself  and  the  devil  take 
the  hindmost."  And  the  devil  took  them  all. 
It  was  the  cave-man  age.  Every  man  had  what 
he  could  grab  or  keep  the  rest  from  grabbing. 
Nobody  made  progress.  He  hadn't  time! 

Then  one  day  two  men  discovered  that  "two 
heads  are  better  than  one."  They  got  together 


8  Giant  We-The-People 

and  each  man  had  two  men  working  for  him. 
They  got  along  so  much  better,  that  more  men 
joined  them.  Soon  there  was  a  great  group  that 
had  quit  fighting  each  other  and  were  working 
together.  Each  man  worked  for  all  and  all  work- 
ed for  each  man.  There  was  a  division  of  indus- 
try. The  ones  that  could  think  and  plan  best  for 
all  became  the  Head.  The  ones  that  could  work 
and  fashion  best  became  the  Hands,  and  the  ones 
that  could  serve  best  as  common  carriers  became 
the  Feet.  Each  began  to  develop  ability  in  his 
job.  No  matter  what  anybody  else  did,  each  did 
what  he  could  do  best,  and  each  got  the  service  of 
all  the  rest.  The  Heads  planned,  the  Hands  did 
the  skilled  work,  the  Feet  fetched  and  carried, 
the  Money  circulated  to  all. 

Giant  We-The-People  Rises 

Finally  all  the  people  of  this  country  united  in 
Giant  We-The-People — The  United  States  of 
America — and  "Uncle  Sam"  arose  and  began  to 
achieve.  All  the  people  united  in  a  great  working 
agreement.  This  working  agreement  is  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  It  binds  the  mem- 
bers of  Giant  We-The-People  together  and  makes 
him  strong  and  vigorous.  The  principles  of  this 


Giant  We-The-People  9 

working  agreement  are  all  in  the  following  Pre- 
amble that  tells  why  it  was  made. 

"We,  the  People  of  the  United  States, 
in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union; 
establish  justice;  insure  domestic  tranquil- 
ity;  provide  for  the  common  defense;  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare;  and  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this 
Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America." 

For  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years  Giant  We- 
The-  People  has  been  making  world-strides,  held 
together  by  our  Constitution.  The  Preamble 
tells  it  all.  The  rest  of  the  Constitution  just  tells 
how  to  do  those  six  things.  Gladstone  said,  "It 
is  the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  one 
time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of  man. "  It  is  a 
working  agreement  that  protects  and  encourages 
every  man  to  do  his  best.  Just  six  things  and  the 
greatest  of  these  is  the  sixth — to  secure  liberty  to 
ourselves.  It  gives  every  man  his  best  chance. 
It  has  developed  more  statesmen,  philosophers, 
inventors  and  captains  of  industry  than  all  other 
kinds  of  government  combined.  It  has  brought 
about  more  progress  in  its  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  years  than  in  all  the  world  before  since  time 
began.  It  has  enabled  multitudes  like  Emerson, 


io  Giant  We-The-People 

Carnegie,  Edison,  McCormick,  Garfield,  and 
Lincoln  to  go  from  humble  obscurity  to  world  fame. 

Had  Abraham  Lincoln  lived  in  the  old  Snake 
days  of  despotism,  he  would  never  have  been  per- 
mitted to  leave  his  Kentucky  cabin.  But  Giant 
We-The-People  enabled  him  to  go  to  the  highest 
place.  He  said  this  is  a  country  "  of  the  people,  for 
the  people,  by  the  people  "—a  Giant  We-The- People. 

This  working  agreement  protects  our  property, 
too.  Lincoln  said:  "Property  is  the  fruit  of 
labor.  Property  is  desirable.  It  is  a  positive 
good  in  the  world.  That  some  should  be  rich 
shows  that  others  may  become  rich,  hence  it  is  a 
just  encouragement  to  enterprise.  Let  not  him 
that  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of  another, 
but  let  him  work  diligently  and  build  one  for  him- 
self, thus  by  example  assuring  that  his  own  shall 
be  safe  from  violence  when  built." 

So  this  Constitution  makes  us  a  free  people.  So 
many  people  think  they  want  a  "free  country" 
when  they  want  a  free-lunch  country.  They 
want  something  for  nothing.  And  they  can't  get 
something  for  nothing  without  taking  it  from 
somebody  who  did  give  something  for  it.  When 
they  try  to  get  something  for  nothing  they  head 
right  back  for  the  cave-man  age  when  they  up 
and  took  it.  The  free-Iunchers  and  grafters  tear 


Giant  We-The-People  11 

apart  Giant  We-The-People  and  throw  him  into 
the  ditch. 

A  "free  country"  is  where  all  rules  are  made  on 
the  principles  of  freedom,  not  force,  where  every- 
body keeps  the  working  agreement  of  Giant  We- 
The-People  and  swats  the  Snake. 

See!    Three  Kinds  of  Pay! 

And  so  as  we  all  work  day  by  day  at  the  things 
we  can  do  best  or  the  things  we  get  to  do — some 
as  Hands,  some  as  Feet,  some  as  Heads — we  all 
get  paid.  We  all  get  three  kinds  of  pay — God's 
pay,  Man's  pay  and  Money  pay.  God's  pay  is 
all  the  wonderful  things  of  life — sunshine,  health, 
life,  love.  Man's  pay  is  the  privilege  of  being  a 
part  of  Giant  We-The-People  so  we  can  get  the 
most  out  of  God's  pay.  Money  pay  is  the  dollar 
we  get  to  command  food,  clothing,  shelter  and 
service.  All  the  rest  of  the  money  we  get  must 
go  back  into  circulation.  When  the  millionaire 
makes  money,  it  goes  back  to  the  banks  and  circu- 
lates. He  can't  eat  any  more  than  others — often 
not  as  much.  John  D.  Rockefeller  couldn't  buy 
the  stomach  he  advertised  for.  Millionaires 
merely  gather  up  millions  and  build  skyscrapers, 
museums  and  railroads  for  the  rest  of  us  to  use. 

Being  a  Member  of  Giant  We-The-People  is 


12  Giant  We-The-People 

the  big  man's  pay.  The  bigger  and  finer  we  make 
Giant  We-The-People  the  more  he  gives  us  back. 
The  members  talk  a  lot  about  working  for  each 
other  as  "party  of  the  first  part"  and  "party  of 
the  second  part,"  but  they  all  work  with  each 
other  for  the  party  of  the  third  part — Giant  We- 
The- People!  He  feeds  and  protects  them  all. 
The  man  who  doesn't  see  that  would  better  go 
to  some  tropic  land  where  God's  pay  is  every- 
where, sunshine,  fruits,  and  wonderful  soil; 
where  there  are  no  working  agreements;  where  a 
man  wears  a  weed  apron,  but  his  scalp  isn't  safe 
on  his  head.  That's  why  those  tropic  lands  have 
never  progressed,  and  the  finest  farm  isn't  worth 
a  dollar.  There's  no  Giant  We-The-People  to 
protect  the  scalp. 

How  Our  Wages  Have 
Gone  Up 

A  hundred  years  ago  John  and  Nelly  Kinzie 
settled  in  a  cabin  near  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago 
River.  They  were  the  only  white  settlers  in  that 
region.  They  were  on  duty  twenty-four  hours  a 
day  to  save  their  scalps.  They  worked  all  the 
day  and  night  shifts,  and  got  no  double-time  or 
time-and-a-half  pay.  The  Indians  therefore  put 
them  on  the  unfair  list  and  picketed  them.  John 


Giant  We-The-People  13 

and  Nelly  lived  in  a  swamp  and  fought  Indians, 
malaria  and  mosquitoes.  They  got  a  bare  living. 
They  had  a  canoe  to  paddle  across  the  river.  They 
had  only  the  protection  of  a  door-hasp  and  a  gun. 

A  hundred  years  have  passed  and  three  million 
of  Giant  We-The-People  have  settled  around 
John  and  Nelly's  cabin.  They  have  made  a  city 
of  Chicago,  and  they  pay  every  man,  whether  he 
be  a  millionaire,  a  laborer  or  a  beggar,  the  big  pay 
of  citizenship.  Giant  We-The- People  has  filled  in 
and  drained  that  swamp,  has  paved  hundreds  of 
miles  of  streets,  has  built  a  wonder-bridge  across 
the  river  and  a  five-million-dollar  Municipal  Pier. 
Giant  We-The- People  has  made  lights,  water- 
works and  fire  protection.  He  has  made  parks, 
libraries,  schools,  and  churches.  Instead  of  the 
door-hasp  and  the  gun  he  now  has  five  thousand 
policemen  and  the  Army  and  Navy  for  protection. 

None  of  us  work  half  so  hard  as  John  and  Nelly 
did,  but  we  get  a  thousand  times  more  pay.  The 
dollar  we  get  is  just  the  tip — just  the  little  certifi- 
cate we  wave  in  the  face  of  Giant  We-The-People 
and  say,  "Feed  me!  Clothe  me!  Shelter  me! 
Amuse  me!"  And  if  we  haven't  the  dollar,  Giant 
We-The-People  won't  let  us  starve.  We  have 
that  dollar  and  command  millions  to  print  a  news- 
paper and  sell  it  to  us  for  a  penny  or  two.  We 


14  Giant  We-The-People 

command  other  millions  and  billions  to  make  us 
telephones,  telegraphs,  railroads,  department 
stores,  and  movies,  and  we  command  it  all  for  our 
dollar.  Napoleon  in  the  palmiest  days  of  his 
empire  could  not  command  as  luxuries  a  tenth 
of  the  things  we  demand  as  necessities! 

That's  the  way  our  wages  have  gone  up  in  a 
hundred  years.  God's  pay,  man's  pay  and  money 
pay.  Everything  we  have  that  John  and  Nelly 
didn't  have  is  our  raise.  Everything  we  do  to 
help  Giant  We-The-People  gives  us  another  raise. 
Everything  we  do  to  cripple  Giant  We-The-People 
cuts  our  pay,  no  matter  how  much  we  slip  into 
our  pockets.  For  if  the  country  goes  down,  all 
our  property  is  so  much  junk. 


II 

Working  for  the  Snake, 
We  Lose 

ALL  this  in  spite  of  the  Snake.     The  Snake 
is  everybody's  enemy,  but  he  is  such  a  liar 
that  he  makes  a  lot  of  people  think  he  is 
their  best  friend.    The  Snake  is  a  great  inventor, 
he  invented  lying.    The  Snake  has  just  one  job — 
to  disrupt  Giant  We-The- People  like  he  did  the 
Aesop's  Fable  Man  and  send  him  back  into  the 
cave-man  age  of  barbarity. 

You  know  that  Snake.  There  are  millions  of 
him — Snakes  of  Selfishness,  Greed,  Ignorance, 
Jealousy,  Thievery,  Graft.  That  Snake  wriggled 
into  Eden  and  Adam  and  Eve  lost  their  paradise. 
No  man  and  woman  ever  tried  to  set  up  a  home 
and  make  it  a  paradise  but  what  that  Snake  tried 
to  wriggle  in  and  wreck  it.  No  man  ever  went  to 
work  or  went  into  business  but  what  that  Snake 
wriggled  after  him.  No  government  was  ever 
set  up  that  the  Snake  didn't  try  to  run  it.  Our 

15 


1 6  Giant  We-The-People 

daily  business  is  swatting  that  Snake  and  saving 
Giant  We-The-People. 

This  Snake  says  to  the  Feet,  "Boys,  you  have 
all  the  traveling  to  do.  Why  don't  you  junk  all 
this  excess  baggage  and  go  faster?"  And  some- 
times the  Feet  do  take  that  lie  and  try  to  go  by 
themselves.  But  they  haven't  any  Eyes  to  see 
which  way  to  go  and  they  land  in  the  ditch ! 

This  Snake  says  to  the  Hands,  "Boys,  you  do 
all  the  work.  Strike  out  for  yourselves. "  Some- 
times the  Hands  do  try  to  strike  out  for  them- 
selves. But  they  haven't  any  Head  to  show  them 
where  to  strike,  and  O,  my!  how  they  do  skin  their 
knuckles  as  they  hit  the  rocks! 

If  an  Arm  or  a  Leg  goes  lame,  the  Head  goes 
lame.  A  race-riot  on  the  South  Side,  and  the 
whole  city  suffers.  A  strike  in  any  industry,  and 
every  industry  is  struck.  A  war  across  the  ocean, 
and  the  whole  world  is  demoralized. 

Capital  and  Labor  Can't 
Beat  Each  Other 

And  then  the  Snake  works  to  get  Head  and 
Hands  and  reet  to  hating  each  other  and  trying 
to  get  even  with  each  other.  That's  a  bully  way 
for  all  to  commit  suicide!  You  hear  so  much 
about  Capital  trying  to  beat  Labor  and  Labor 


Giant  We-The-People  17 

* 
trying  to  beat  Capital.    That's  the  Snaky  notion 

all  over  again  that  the  Head  can  beat  the  Hands 
or  the  Hands  can  beat  the  Stomach.  When  one 
starves  the  other,  it  starves  itself.  Capital  is 
what  the  Head-worker  or  the  Hand-worker  has 
left  over  from  industry.  The  worker  who  saves  a 
dollar  and  banks  it,  or  invests  it  in  any  property, 
is  a  capitalist.  All  savings  become  Capital  or 
common-wealth  for  all  to  use  for  the  benefit  of  all. 
All  Capital  is  what  somebod}'  saved  from  some- 
body's Labor  of  Hand  or  brain. 

Capital  and  Labor  are  a  great  team  at  work  for 
We-The-People.  Both  must  share  in  the  prod- 
ucts of  industry.  Both  must  have  their  pay. 
Labor's  pay  for  handling  property  is  wages,  and 
Capital's  pay  for  managing  property  is  interest 
or  profits.  Labor  takes  its  pay  first  and  is  sure 
of  its  share,  which  should  be'enough  to  pay  all  its 
expenses  while  working  and  save  a  balance.  It 
takes  its  pay  before  the  job  is  fully  paid  for,  every 
Saturday  or  whenever  the  paying  is  done.  Capital 
waits  and  takes  what  is  left  when  the  job  is  done, 
if  there  is  any  left,  or  pays  the  deficit. 

Now  if  Labor  gets  too  much  pay,  so  that  there 
isn't  enough  left  to  pay  Capital,  Capital  sustains 
a  loss  and  in  order  to  go  on  must  borrow  from  the 
bank-savings,  or  common-wealth.  If  the  losses 


1 8  Giant  We-The-People 

prove  to  be  too  great,  the  result  is  bankruptcy. 
Failures  are  a  great  waste  of  common  property. 
They  waste  the  savings  of  both  Capital  and  Labor. 
To  keep  on  wasting  by  such  mismanagement  of 
Capital  and  Labor  would  send  us  back  into  the 
caves,  and  the  Snake  of  Selfishness  and  Greed 
knows  that,  but  he  lies  to  us  when  we  listen  to 
him.  It  is  said  that  the  Russian  people  wasted 
in  three  years  what  it  took  three  hundred  years 
to  gain,  and  poor  old  Russia  nearly  caved  in 
before  she  learned  that  Labor  can't  get  pay  if 
Capital  is  killed. 

So  wages  must  be  adjusted  as  prices  go  up  or 
down,  or  Giant  We-The-People  must  either  break 
up  or  break  down.  Within  one  year  cotton 
dropped  so  low  that  the  wages  paid  to  grow  cotton 
were  more  than  cotton  would  bring  in  the 
market.  In  that  case  Capital's  share  was  lost 
before  the  process  was  complete.  To  pick  cotton 
would  only  add  to  the  loss  from  Capital-savings 
or  common-wealth,  so  hundreds  of  square  miles 
of  cotton  were  never  picked.  The  industry 
came  to  a  standstill  and  everybody  suffered. 
Capital  and  Labor  both  lost  more  by  losing 
their  jobs. 

With  falling  prices,  Labor  must  take  falling 
wages  or  increase  output,  or  pretty  soon  be  out 


Giant  We-The-People  19 

of  a  job.     Nobody  can  milk  a  cow  very  long  if  he 
doesn't  feed  her! 

Heads  Listen  to  the  Snake 

But  the  star  Snake  stunt  is  getting  Heads, 
Hands  and  Feet  to  damming  up  the  money  circu- 
lation of  Giant  We-The-People  by  monopolies, 
trusts,  combines,  and  bulldozing. 

The  old  cave-man  did  it  with  a  club.  The 
new  cave-man  also  does  it  with  a  club — a  club 
of  men.  And  whenever  they  attempt  it,  it  is 
just  like  binding  the  arms  or  choking  the 
neck.  The  Members  involved  get  so  inflamed, 
gorged,  swollen,  dropsical,  clumsy,  numb, 
inefficient,  apoplectic,  blind,  drunk,  that 
Giant  We-The-People  suffers,  too,  and  rises  up 
and  roars. 

It  is  an  old  story  with  the  Heads.  Big  business 
got  Snaky  quite  often.  Trusts,  combines,  mo- 
nopolies multiplied  to  control  commodities  and 
force  up  the  price.  Snaky  financiers  watered 
the  stock  of  corporations  and  unloaded  it  on 
unsuspecting  buyers.  Railroads  here  and  there 
pooled  competing  interests  to  hold  up  Giant  We- 
The-People.  And  the  Giant  got  mad.  "Get 
the  axe!"  he  shouted  in  his  wrath.  But  Roose- 
velt said,  "No!  Get  the  Snake!"  And  we've 


20  Giant  We-The-People 

been  getting  him,  from  the  poor  peanut  profiteer 
clear  up  to  the  giant  corporation.  Away  back  in 
1890  we  got  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  law.  The 
de-snaking  of  the  Head  has  been  going  merrily 
on,  and  the  very  corporations  that  used  to  say, 
"The  public  be  damned!"  are  now  saying,  "The 
public  be  served!"  for  they  see  their  prosperity 
lies  in  making  the  greatest  prosperity  for  Giant 
We-The-People.  It  was  the  Snake  that  hurt 
them  all,  and  they  are  all  out  gunning  for  him 
now. 

Whenever  we  have  hard  times,  it  means  we 
have  been  listening  to  the  Snake.  Roger  Bab- 
son,  the  great  financial  expert,  put  it  this  way 
the  other  day:  "When  wre  have  hard  times, 
we  have  either  been  monkeying  with  the  Ten 
Commandments  or  the  multiplication  tables." 

Hands  Listen  to  the  Snake 

Next  the  Hands  and  Feet  got  snaky.  They 
had  done  a  very  fine  thing — they  had  been 
getting  together  in  the  various  trades  and  had 
organized  unions,  just  as  the  Heads  had  organ- 
ized associations. 

Herbert  Hoover  says  the  unions  should  have 
great  credit  for  the  abolition  of  sweat-shops, 
fairer  hours  of  work  and  other  reforms.  But 


Giant  We-The-People  21 

A 

as  soon  as  power  came  to  the  unions,  the 
Snake  said,  "Dam  up  the  money  circulation. 
Corner  your  labor  market  and  force  up  the 
prices.  Form  a  workingman's  trust.  Water 
your  stock.  Get  even  with  the  Head.  Grab 
while  the  grabbing  is  good." 

Labor  leaders  are  just  as  human  as  employers 
and  they  fell  for  the  same  Snake.  Little  by 
little  all  kinds  of  Snake-rules  began  to  wriggle 
into  the  union  books.  These  rules  overcharged 
Giant  We-The-People.  Some  of  the  rules  were 
so  funny  the  Snake  laughed  as  he  wrote  them. 
The  leaders  made  rules  that  their  men  should 
not  ride  bicycles  or  autos  on  their  employers' 
time,  but  should  walk  from  shop  to  job,  as  that 
would  string  the  job  out  longer.  Jurisdictions 
were  created  with  boundaries  no  two  could  some- 
times agree  on,  so  they  stopped  work  to  argue 
it  out.  It  used  to  take  only  one  man  in  the 
railroad  yards  to  change  a  certain  part  on  a 
locomotive,  but  union  leaders,  when  sufficiently 
Snaked,  discovered  that  this  job  was  in  the  field 
of  steam-fitting,  sheet-metal,  electrical  and  ma- 
chinist:' trades.  So  the  rules  required  four  men 
to  change  the  part.  But  Giant  We-The- People 
had  to  pay  four  men  for  the  job  one  could  do. 
That  takes  the  fun  out  of  it  I 


11  Giant  We-The-People 

Labor  Waste  the  Greatest 
Waste 

An  overcharge  on  a  man's  wages  for  a  day 
doesn't  seem  like  much,  and  we  are  apt  to  say, 
"O,  well,  he's  our  neighbor  and  we're  glad  he's 
getting  it."  But  multiply  that  overcharge  by 
maybe  300  days  in  a  year,  and  you  have  a  good 
sized  overcharge!  Then  multiply  that  over- 
charge by  eleven  millions  of  workmen  over- 
charging, and  you  get  a  staggering  total.  The 
labor  bill  today  is  the  greatest  in  the  land. 
Notice  the  circle  diagram  of  any  business  or  rail- 
road expenditures  and  you  will  see  that  the 
biggest  piece  of  the  circle  is  wages.  Labor's 
piece  of  pie  is  the  largest. 

The  union  rules  got  so  Snake-ridden  in  Chicago 
that  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  of  all  the  millions 
paid  for  building  was  wasted  by  these  overcharges! 
And  the  Hands  got  swollen  and  inefficient. 

So  it  was  that  Giant  We-The-People  rose  in  his 
wrath  at  the  Hands  and  Feet  as  he  had  risen  at 
the  Heads  when  they  overcharged  him.  "Get 
the  axe!"  shouted  the  Giant.  But  Judge  Landis 
said,  "No,  get  the  Snake!" 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  same  judge 
that  fined  many  big  corporation  leaders  for  dis- 


Giant  We-The-People  23 

* 

regarding  the  rights  of  We-The-People  was  called 
upon  to  prescribe  for  the  union  leaders  for  similar 
offenses.  The  Unions  are  going  to  rise  in  public 
favor  just  as  much  after  they  are  de-Snaked  as 
the  corporations  did.  The  fight  is  now  on.  It 
is  not  against  unions  but  to  save  unions. 

The  building  trades  industry  is  the  battle- 
ground now  in  Chicago.  The  records  show  that 
for  twenty-five  years  as  the  building  trades 
worked  with  no  wasteful  rules,  wages  doubled 
while  the  cost  of  building  did  not  rise,  but  in  some 
cases  fell,  due  to  improved  methods,  appliances 
and  management.  That  is,  when  all  parties 
worked  for  Giant  We-The-People,  costs  did  not 
rise,  but  all  gained  and  Labor's  pay  went  up. 
Now  as  the  Snake  has  wriggled  in,  wasteful  rules 
have  multiplied,  costs  have  soared,  the  building 
industry  has  become  discredited,  has  become 
uncertain,  has  come  almost  to  a  standstill,  and 
all  have  lost,  doing  the  things  the  Snake  told 
them  would  make  them  gain! 


A  FAR  REACHING 
DECISION 

Copyright  1921,  The  Chicago  Tribunt 


Cartoon  by  John  T.  McCutcheon 

Reprinted  by  Permission 
of  The  Chicago  Tribune 


Ill 

The  Chicago  Building 
Battlefield 

THE  battle  with  the  Snake  in  the  Chicago 
building  trades  that  began  in  1921  has 
drawn  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Monopolistic 
rules  and  overcharges  had  multiplied  the  costs 
until  the  world's  most  essential  industry  had 
well-nigh  stopped.  The  population  went  right 
on  increasing.  Homes  and  offices  were  over- 
crowded. Families  crowded  into  one  room  and 
sometimes  seven  people  slept  in  one  bed.  That's 
a  rather  populous  bed!  Misery  and  crime  in- 
creased. Rents  soared.  There  weren't  enough 
houses  at  any  price. 

"Hurry  us  more  new  houses!"  shouted  Giant 
We-The-People  day  by  day. 

"All  right,"  replied  the  builders,  "here  is  what 
they  will  cost." 

"No,  the  war  is  over.  We  can't  pay  such 
prices.  Make  them  lower." 

"We  can't  make  them  lower  without  lower 
wages,"  said  the  builders. 

"Wages  must  not  come  down,"  said  the  union 
leaders.  "We  cannot  live  on  less  the  way  things 

26 


Giant  We-The-People  27 

are.  And,  moreover,  Capital  has  been  beating 
us,  now  it  is  our  chance  to  beat  Capital." 

So  the  builder-Heads  and  the  builder-Hands- 
and-Feet  deadlocked.  Building  was  tied  up  right 
when  the  season  was  fine  for  building,  when 
many  buildings  were  to  be  erected,  and  when 
thousands  of  men  needed  work  and  thousands  of 
families  needed  homes! 

"More  houses!  Hurry!  Hurry!"  shouted  the 
Giant. 

Finally  both  sides  agreed  to  leave  it  to  Judge 
Kenesaw  M.  Landis  to  decide  the  wage  scale. 
And  when  he  had  looked  into  the  situation  he 
discovered  that  to  cut  the  wages  twenty  percent 
would  only  cut  the  building  costs  six  percent. 
Some  other  way  must  be  found  to  reduce  costs. 

Then  Judge  Landis  saw  the  wriggling  trail. 
"I  cannot  fix  wages  until  I  see  the  employers' 
agreements  and  workmen's  rules,"  he  said.  So 
they  brought  all  the  agreements  and  rule-books 
into  his  court,  and  here  he  saw  the  masses  of 
crooked  rules  to  overcharge  Giant  We-The- 
People. 

"I'm  going  to  give  up  my  summer  vacation  and 
go  Snake-hunting,"  he  said.  "Verily,  the  build- 
ing industry  is  in  a  bad  way.  There  is  a  general 
disposition  to  avoid  it  as  a  thing  diseased.  The 


28  Giant  We-The-People 

wise  dollar  prefers  most  any  other  form  of  activity 
or  no  activity.  This  has  brought  about  a  virtual 
famine  in  homes  and  the  idleness  of  many  thou- 
sands of  men  willing  to  work." 

Now  when  the  price  of  ordinary  commodities 
becomes  too  high,  the  people  may  stop  buying 
them,  or  substitute  something  else.  But  there  is 
no  substitute  for  buildings.  And  if  buildings 
cost  too  much,  the  high  cost  is  added  on  to  rents 
and  paid  by  the  people  over  and  over  again  in 
everything  they  buy. 

Why  Buildings  Cost  So  Much 

The  real  evil  lurks  in  the  mass  of  "make- 
work"  rules,  that  arbitrarily  require  skilled  men 
to  do  unskilled  labor  at  skilled  men's  wages,  rules 
that  give  unscrupulous  business  agents  pretexts 
for  calling  strikes  to  be  settled  by  payment  to 
them  for  peace  and  progress,  and,  most  of  all, 
rules  cunningly  designed,  by  that  self-same 
Snake,  to  reduce  the  skill  and  productivity  of  the 
worker,  thus  injuring  the  self-respect  and  man- 
hood of  the  worker  himself,  and  making  it  un- 
desirable for  the  self-respecting  and  freedom- 
loving  citizens  to  join  such  crafts. 

Such  practices  are  absolutely  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  the  great  working  agreement — the 


Giant  We-The-People  29 

Constitution  of  We-The-People.  You  see,  if  we 
all  work  against  each  other  instead  of  with  each 
other  for  the  Party  of  the  Third  Part,  Giant  We- 
The-People,  we  shall  all  suffer,  and  most  of  all 
will  that  member  suffer  that  becomes  most 
dominated  by  the  Snake. 

Back  to  the  Constitution! 

So  the  Judge  could  not  fix  wages  until  he  had 
fixed  the  working  rules.  And  he  therefore 
formulated  the  following  Principles  founded  upon 
the  great  working  agreement  that  has  made 
Giant  We-The-People  so  successful — the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 

PRINCIPLES 

GOVERNING     THE     CONSIDERATION     OF     AGREEMENTS     AND 
WORKING    RULES    AFFECTING    A    JUST 
WAGE    SCALE 

ARTICLE  I.  Monopolistic  elen^ents  of  associations  or 
unions  are  intolerable  unless, 

i . — The  public  is  served  more  economically  with  them 
than  without  them. 

2. — Lnless  any  one  qualified  may  join  them  without 
hindrance  or  discrimination. 

3. — Unless  they  serve  any  one  on  demand  without 
discrimination. 


30  Giant  We-The-People 

4. — Unless  sufficient  apprentices  be  taught  to  supply 
enough  skillful  managers  and  workers. 

5. — Unless  working  rules  and  conditions  eliminate 
waste  of  time,  effort  and  material;  increase  quality  and 
quantity  of  product;  encourage  improved  methods,  ma- 
terials and  appliances;  produce  increased  skill  and  con- 
tentment of  the  workers,  and  help  to  preserve  peace  in 
the  community. 

ARTICLE  II.  Other  things  being  equal,  trades  should 
have  higher  wages,  or  wages  above  the  average, 

I. — If  the  work  is  more  hazardous. 
2. — If  greater  skill  is  required. 

3. — If  a  longer  term  of  apprenticeship  is  required  to 
become  proficient. 

4. — If  the  work  is  intermittent  or  unsteady  due  to 
weather  or  seasonable  demand. 

ARTICLE  III.  Other  things  being  equal,  trades  having 
rules  or  conditions  that  produce  or  permit  waste  should  have 
a  lower  wage,  or  a  wage  lower  than  the  average  rate. 

i. — Rules  that  limit  or  curtail  in  any  way  the  amount 
of  work  per  man,  consistent  with  reasonable  comfort  and 
well-being. 

2. — Rules  that  require  ordinary  travel  to  or  from  the 
job  to  be  on  employers'  time,  or  otherwise  waste  time 
paid  for. 

3. — Rules  requiring  skilled  men  or  high-rate  men  to 
do  work  that  less  skilled  or  lower-rate  men  could  do,  or 
that  other  trades  could  do  more  economically. 


Giant  We-The-People  31 

4. — Rules  that  expressly  or  by  inference  interfere 
with  the  manager  or  foreman  in  the  dispatch  of  the  work 
or  the  use  of  new  or  improved  methods,  materials  or 
appliances. 

5. — Rules  that  require  work  to  be  done  by  hand  that 
could  be  done  better  or  more  economically  by  machinery, 
tools  or  other  improved  methods. 

6. — Rules  that  require  work  to  be  done  on  the  building 
that  could  be  done  better  or  more  economically  in  the 
shop. 

7. — Rules  requiring  excessive  rates  for  overtime,  or 
overtime  rates  for  shift  work. 

8. — Rules  requiring  unnecessary  foremen,  shop  or  job 
stewards  or  pay  for  men  or  the  time  of  men  who  do  not 
render  corresponding  services. 

9. — Rules  requiring  unnecessary  helpers  or  assistants. 

10. — Rules  that  limit  the  number  of  members  in  the 
associations  or  unions,  or  unreasonably  limit  apprentice- 
ships. 

Judge  Landis  asked  all  the  unions  of  all  the 
trades  to  revise  their  working  rules  according  to 
these  Principles. 


IV 

Back  to  Work  for  Giant 
We-The-People 

DE-SNAKING  the  union  rules  according 
to  the  foregoing  Principles  resulted  in  the 
now  nationally  famous  Landis  Uniform 
Agreement.  Oftentimes  thirty  or  forty  trades 
have  to  take  a  hand  in  one  new  building. 
If  any  one  trade,  the  teamsters  for  example, 
having  rules  differing  from  others  should  stop 
work,  the  whole  business  would  stop.  The 
several  trades  had  a  time  trying  to  adjust 
their  rules  to  the  Principles,  but  finally  agreed 
on  a  Uniform  Agreement  that  would  apply  to 
all  trades.  Here  are  some  of  the  rules: 

Rules  of  Uniform  Agreement 

ARBITRATION    INSTEAD   OF   STRIKES 

The  first  swat  knocked  out  the  Strike  Snake. 
Heretofore  leaders  with  power  or  influence 
enough  could  call  a  strike.  A  strike  isn't  merely 
quitting  work.  A  strike  is  quitting  work  in  a 
way  to  try  to  prevent  anybody  else  from  going 
on  with  the  job.  Now  the  Constitution  of  We- 
The-People  gives  everybody  liberty  to  work  or 

32 


Giant  We-The-People  33 

quit  work,  but  requires  that  he  give  the  same 
liberty  to  the  other  fellow  to  work  or  quit  work. 

So  all  the  employers  and  employees  put  in  the 
Uniform  Agreement  that  they  would  not  stop 
work  by  strike  or  lockout,  but  that  they  would 
refer  any  grievances  to  a  board  of  arbitration 
composed  of  equal  numbers  of  employers  and 
employees.  Their  decision  would  be  binding, 
subject  to  appeal  to  a  national  board  or  an 
umpire. 

And  they  all  agreed  to  continue  working  on  the 
old  basis  until  the  final  decision  was  made,  and 
then  abide  by  that.  What  a  lot  of  grief  that  saves 
for  all! 

TRADE   TOOLS   INTERCHANGEABLE 

It  used  to  be  the  custom  to  consider  that  tools 
belonging  to  one  trade  should  not  be  used  by  men 
of  another  trade.  This  stirred  up  disputes  and 
strikes.  New  kinds  of  materials  in  some  trades 
could  best  be  worked  with  tools  of  another  trade. 
They  agreed  that  any  tools  could  be  used  any- 
where needed. 

A  BIG  "MAKE- WORK"  SNAKE 
Some  union  business  agents  could  find  easy 
work  to  do  only  because  the  employers  agreed 
with  them  to  enforce  a   monopoly  and  create 


34  Giant  We-The-People 

that  kind  of  work.  Thus  the  glaziers  had  a  rule 
requiring  all  glass  to  be  set  in  its  sash  at  the 
building  instead  of  at  the  shop.  This  made  much 
extra  work.  That  work,  too,  is  manifestly  easier 
done  in  a  shop  where  the  tools  and  appliances 
are  handy  than  out  in  the  field  or  on  a  building 
exposed  to  the  weather.  And  when  the  glaziers' 
union  leaders  told  the  judge-umpire  that  if  that 
rule  be  knocked  out,  "ninety-five  per  cent  of 
their  men  would  be  thrown  on  the  street  without 
any  means  of  making  a  living  for  their  families," 
Judge  Landis  replied,  "If  the  life  of  your  union 
depends  upon  such  a  'make- work*  rule,  you 
should  disband  before  sundown,"  and  find  some 
other  work  to  do. 

NO  EMPLOYERS'  ASSOCIATION  MONOPOLY 

Some  employers  had  an  agreement  with  their 
union  chiefs  that  the  men  would  not  work  for 
anyone  not  belonging  to  the  employers'  asso- 
ciation. This  kind  of  a  rule  would  make  a 
monopoly  for  the  employers'  association,  and 
make  it  easy  for  them  to  charge  We-The-People 
an  unfair  price.  So  the  Uniform  Agreement  pro- 
vides that  any  employer  may  join  the  associa- 
tion, and  if  he  does  not  want  to  join  he  may  have 
all  the  benefits  of  the  agreement  with  the  unions 


Giant  We-The-People  35 

by  paying  the  same  dues  and  fees  the  members 
pay. 

NO   UNION   MONOPOLY 

Some  union  leaders  also  tried  to  make  a 
monopoly  by  limiting  the  number  of  members 
that  might  join  the  union.  One  wanted  an  agree- 
ment stating,  "No  more  journeymen  shall  be 
created  without  the  sanction  of  the  arbitration 
committee."  Now  such  an  attempt  to  limit  the 
number  of  men  that  may  belong  to  the  union, 
when  the  employers  agree  to  employ  only  union 
men,  would  be  a  great  injustice  to  other  members 
of  We-The-People  who  might  want  to  work.  So 
they  gave  up  that  rule.  They  also  agreed  that 
the  use  of  apprentices  shall  not  be  prohibited. 

NO  LIMIT  ON   WORK 

Some  union  rules  placed  limits  on  the  amount 
of  work  a  man  would  be  permitted  to  do  in  a 
dayl  Some  did  this  in  one  way  and  some 
another.  This  type  of  rule  stifles  skill  and  puts 
ability  to  sleep.  It  is  like  tying  hands  up  in 
bandages  when  they  work.  It  makes  the  work 
cost  We-The-People  more  than  necessary.  It 
kills  enthusiasm.  Limiting  a  man's  work  to  so 
many  pieces  or  so  many  radiators  or  so  many 


36  Giant  We-The-People 

yards,  etc.,  regardless  of  how  well  the  work  had 
been  planned  to  save  labor,  prevents  the  adoption 
of  many  improved  methods  and  appliances  to 
save  labor  and  reduce  costs. 

The  unions  landed  on  that  Snake,  and  agreed 
that  there  should  be  no  restriction  on  the  amount 
of  work  a  man  may  do,  and  no  restriction  against 
any  machinery  or  appliances,  or  any  raw  or  manu- 
factured material,  except  prison-made. 

LETTING   THE    BOSS   WORK 

Another  Snaky  idea  that  was  bleeding  We- 
The-People  was  that  rule  that  the  employer 
must  not  work  on  his  own  job!  If  he  picked  up 
a  tool  and  did  a  two  or  three-minute  emergency 
job,  he  was  in  danger  of  being  fined  or  his  men 
taken  away  from  him.  Now  in  many  cases  the 
employer  could  work  as  much  as  two-thirds  of 
the  time,  and  there  is  an  average  of  one  employer 
to  four  or  five  employees.  Under  this  waste- 
making  rule  Giant  We-The-People  had  to  pay  for 
the  full  time  of  a  skilled  employer  and  yet  not 
get  the  work  he  could  do.  So  the  Judge  ruled 
that  the  unions  that  required  this  should  get 
lower  pay  to  make  up  for  the  waste.  Twenty 
unions  agreed  to  let  the  employer,  or  one  member 
of  a  firm  of  employers,  work  on  his  own  job. 


Giant  We-The-People  37 

KILLING   JURISDICTIONAL   STRIKES 

One  Snake-rule  designed  especially  to  gum  up 
the  works  of  We-The-People  was  that  rule  of 
each  trade's  claiming  and  enumerating  the 
various  and  minute  kinds  of  work  that  they 
thought  must  be  done  by  their  members  and 
by  no  others.  The  trouble  with  this  form  of 
greed  is  that  other  trades  would  claim  some 
of  the  same  things,  and  after  the  building  starts 
a  dispute  over  these  claims  would  arise  and  pro- 
voke a  young  war,  known  as  a  jurisdictional 
strike.  Such  a  war  often  grew  to  such  proportions 
that  it  blocked  the  work  of  other  departments 
and  caused  much  loss  of  time  and  wages  to  many 
innocent  brother  craftsmen,  as  well  as  to  We- 
The-People.  All  trades,  therefore,  agreed  to 
avoid  this  wasteful  condition  by  a  clause  in  the 
Uniform  Agreement  providing  that  all  work 
undertaken  by  the  employer-Heads  shall  be  done 
by  their  employee-Hands.  This  leaves  it  to  the 
employer  when  taking  orders  from  the  people  to 
take  only  that  kind  of  work  his  craftsmen  can  do 
economically,  leaving  the  other  kinds  of  work  for 
other  employers. 

ANYBODY  MAY  DO  SMALL  JOBS 

Another  wasteful  jurisdictional  rule  was  wiped 
out.  When  union  leaders  claimed  that  certain 


38  Giant  We-The-People 

materials  and  tools  could  only  be  handled  by 
their  members,  it  often  happened  that  a  few 
minutes'  work  of  repair  or  adjustment  would 
involve  the  handling  of  tools  or  material  belong- 
ing to  three  or  four  different  trades,  though  one 
man  of  any  of  the  trades  could  easily  do  the  whole 
job  alone.  Giant  We-The-People  shouldn't  be 
charged  with  four  or  five  men  called  to  do  what 
one  could  do.  So  the  Uniform  Agreement  pro- 
vides that  work  of  not  to  exceed  thirty  min- 
utes, belonging  to  any  trade,  may  be  done  by 
any  other  trade  at  the  discretion  of  the  employer, 
in  the  interest  of  public  economy. 

SOME  STUCK  TO  THE  SNAKE 

In  some  trades  the  leaders  had  organized  a 
separate  helpers'  union  and  wanted  a  rule  that 
there  should  be  one  helper  to  each  craftsman  on 
every  job  whether  needed  or  not.  Other  trades 
wanted  no  helpers'  union  and  few  apprentices. 
They  demanded  that  all  the  work  of  carrying 
and  distributing  materials  and  assisting  the  crafts- 
men should  be  done  by  skilled  men  at  high  wages. 
Other  leaders  wanted  work  to  be  done  in  the 
field  or  on  the  building  that  might  be  more  easily 
and  cheaply  done  in  the  shop.  Such  rules  over- 
charged We-The-People  and  the  wages  of  such 


Giant  We-The-People  39 

trades  would  have  to  be  fixed  lower  because  of 
the  lower  value  of  the  service  rendered. 

Such  leaders  and  a  few  others  stuck  to  the 
Snake  and  would  not  line  up  with  the  majority 
that  accepted  the  Uniform  Agreement,  to  help 
get  building  costs  down  and  end  the  building 
tie-up. 

BUT   SOME   PROPOSE    PROGRESS 

Two  trades  in  the  Landis  arbitration  proposed 
rules  to  guarantee  good  workmanship!  They 
proposed  that  the  workman  be  required  to  do 
any  work  over  that  he  hadn't  done  properly — 
and  do  it  on  his  own  time,  at  his  own  expense! 
Such  a  rule  would  tend  to  make  better  workmen 
and  make  their  wages  higher  because  they  would 
be  worth  more  to  the  public  than  poor  workmen 
who  do  their  work  over  at  the  employer's  ex- 
pense. Hurrah  for  these  two  trades! 

So  the  rules  of  the  Uniform  Agreement  tended 
to  give  a  full  day's  work  and  get  a  full  day's 
pay  for  it.  Where  ten  men  charge  for  five  men's 
work,  then  they  should  receive  only  five  men's 
pay  and  divide  it  among  them.  The  greater  the 
waste  and  overcharge,  the  lower  the  wages  for 
the  workers  responsible  for  the  waste. 


V 

The  Majority  Must  Rule 

WE  HAVE  told  in  detail  of  the  Chicago 
Building  Industry  battle  for  two  reasons: 
Because  the  country  at  large  may  not 
know  the  true  inwardness  of  it,  and  because  it  is 
one  of  the  deciding  battles  between  the  Giant 
and  the  Snake.  Its  outcome  affects  the  nation. 
The  Snake  that  tied  up  the  Chicago  building 
industry  wriggles  over  the  nation.  His  trail 
leads  into  every  industry.  Where  he  goes  he 
carries  the  same  systems  of  graft,  waste  and 
despotism,  that  produce  high  costs,  inefficiency 
and  unrest.  This  Snake  injures  most  the  very 
workers  he  claims  to  benefit. 

When  some  part  of  a  city  is  not  well  lighted 
at  night,  the  citizens  lose  the  way,  stumble, 
go  into  the  gutter  and  are  held  up  by  bandits. 
We  fix  it  by  putting  more  lights  there.  Chicago 
and  all  America  have  had  their  industrial  sec- 
tions fogged  and  darkened  by  the  Snake's 
dishonest  doctrines.  Millions  of  honest  workers 

40 


Giant  We-The-People  41 

have  lost  the  way,  fallen  into  the  gutter  and 
have  been  held  up  by  industrial  bandits. 

Judge  Landis  came  with  his  Principles  and 
Uniform  Agreements  to  let  the  light  of  the  great 
American  working  agreement,  the  Constitution 
of  Giant  We-The-People,  into  the  building 
industry.  It  was  stumbling  into  the  ditch  and 
being  robbed. 

Only  as  these  Principles  and  Agreements  light 
the  way  can  we  make  fair  pay  for  both  Labor 
and  Capital.  Only  as  these  Principles  and  Agree- 
ments light  the  way  can  each  one  get  all  his 
pay — God's  pay,  Man's  pay  and  Money  pay. 

The  majority  must  rule  in  America.  The 
minority  must  follow.  The  interests  of  the 
majority  must  rule  in  the  building  trades  or  they 
cannot  be  American.  The  Constitution  espe- 
cially declares  freedom  from  autocrats.  When 
autocratic  leaders  oppose  the  majority  by  force — 
when  the  majority  go  to  work  on  a  building  and 
one  trade,  the  teamsters,  for  illustration,  strike 
and  stop  everything,  what  shall  we  do? 

The  man  who  will  not  follow  the  majority 
agreement  in  a  nation  is  disloyal.  The  man 
who  will  not  act  in  the  interest  of  the  majority 
in  industry  is  an  obstructionist.  We  must  find  a 
just  way  to  enable  industry  to  proceed  without  him. 


42  Giant  We-The-People 

We  Need  More  Law 

Organizations  are  right  and  worthy  so  long 
as  they  do  not  injure  Giant  We-The- People.  We 
make  laws  to  keep  them  from  injuring  Giant 
We-The- People.  We  have  laws  to  keep  capitalists 
from  injuring  him.  We  have  laws  to  keep  cap- 
tains of  industry  from  injuring  him.  We  have 
laws  even  to  keep  natural  monopolies  like  railways 
and  gas  companies  from  overcharging  him. 

But  we  have  no  law  as  yet  to  keep  misguided 
labor  leaders  from  hurting  him. 

We  haven't  yet  had  time  to  make  them. 
We're  only  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years 
old.  The  United  States  just  began  in  1787. 
Egypt  began  thousands  of  years  before.  We- 
The-People  must  find  a  way  to  save  the  unions. 
When  we  adopted  the  Constitution,  the  great 
working  agreement  of  We-The-People,  we  each 
agreed  to  give  to  every  other  man  the  same 
liberty  we  ask  for  ourselves  and  no  man  can 
withdraw  from  that  agreement  and  live  under 
the  protection  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Not 
even  a  state  can  withdraw  from  that  agreement. 
We  fought  the  Civil  War  to  decide  that.  The  Build- 
ing Industry  Civil  War  is  being  fought  over  the 
same  principles.  There  can  be  only  one  result. 


Giant  We-The-People  43 

What  of  the  Unions? 

Unions  have  done  great  good  working  for  the 
Giant.  They  have  done  great  wrong  working 
for  the  Snake.  Samuel  Untermeyer  says  that 
capitalism  is  more  despotic  and  lawless  than 
labor  when  it  listens  to  the  Snake.  We  have 
capitalism  pretty  well  controlled  by  law  today. 
We  must  protect  labor  the  same  way.  Justice 
Brandeis  says  the  unions  have  rendered  immense 
service,  and  the  employers  need  them  quite  as 
much  as  the  employees.  We  should  fight  to 
save  the  unions.  It  is  not  desirable  and  not 
right  to  suppress  them. 

There  is  need  of  the  steady  upward  pressure 
of  the  unions  to  counteract  the  steady  downward 
pressure  of  competition. 

But  what  kind  of  unions?  Unions  that  ob- 
struct or  that  construct?  Unions  that  see  how 
little  they  can  give  for  the  money  or  unions  that 
see  how  much  they  can  give  for  the  money? 
Architects,  engineers,  doctors,  lawyers,  teachers, 
and  other  professions  have  their  associations 
to  see  how  much  they  can  give — how  they  can 
improve  and  set  higher  standards  for  themselves. 
Bankers,  manufacturers,  merchants  and  farm- 
ers have  their  associations  to  promote  their 


4  |  Giant  We-The-People 

progress.  Should  not  labor  unions  do  likewise? 
Should  they  not  endeavor  to  increase  skill  and 
set  higher  standards  of  workmanship?  Why  not 
make  membership  in  a  union  a  badge  of  the 
artist  workman,  denying  membership  to  those 
who  cannot  qualify?  Why  not  encourage  higher 
levels  of  skill  and  productivity?  They  should 
set  their  standards  by  the  efficient  and  pull 
the  others  up  to  them,  rather  than  set  their 
standards  by  the  inefficient  and  pull  the  others 
down  to  them.  Then  union  labor  can  be  quoted 
on  the  market  and  the  public  will  bid  for  it 
over  other  kinds  of  labor.  Then  the  wage  ques- 
tion will  take  care  of  itself. 

The  Snake  and  the  Giant 
Battle  To-day 

So  the  battle  is  between  the  Snake  and  the 
Giant.  Strip  off  all  the  camouflage.  Go  where 
you  will  and  you'll  hear  that  it  is  a  battle  for  this 
or  a  battle  for  that — it  is  a  battle  between  the 
Snake  and  the  Giant. 

If  the  Snake  wins,  it  means  a  boa  constrictor 
squeezing  the  Hands  still  tighter.  It  means 
clumsy  Hands;  bloated,  inefficient  Hands;  Hands 
managed  by  the  Snake  and  not  by  the  Giant.  It 


Giant  We-The-People  45 

means  dishonest  unions  that  honest  men  will 
leave.  It  means  industrial  despotism.  It  means 
a  premium  on  waste,  inefficiency  and  dishonesty. 
It  means  a  sick  Giant.  It  means  building  strangu- 
lation, higher  rents  and  seven  in  a  bed.  It 
means  depression  in  industrial  centers,  and  half- 
time  for  workers.  It  means  stagnation,  unrest, 
bread-lines,  misery  for  families..  It  means  higher 
costs  on  clothing,  shoes,  food  and  freight.  It 
means  progress  halted  and  the  land  headed  back 
for  the  caves.  It  means  everybody  losing  out 
on  God's  pay,  Man's  pay,  and  Money  pay. 
It  means  taking  the  joy  out  of  life. 

If  the  Giant  wins,  it  means  free  Hands,  a 
clear  Head  and  a  prosperous  people.  It  means 
good  buildings,  more  homes,  lower  rents,  happy 
families.  It  means  cheaper  clothing,  shoes, 
:ood,  freight.  It  means  another  log  jamb  cleared 
out  for  the  flow  of  good  times  and  back  to  "nor- 
malcy." It  means  better  citizens,  better  cities, 
setter  country,  better  America. 

//  means  putting  the  joy  back  into  life. 


Books  by  Ralph  Parlette 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  HARD  KNOCKS 

The  School  That  Completes  Our  Education 

"'The  University  of  Hard  Knocks'  is  a  great  big  boost  for  every- 
body who  will  read  it — and  everybody  ought  to  read  it." — Judge 
Ben  B.  Lindsey. 

Library  Edition,  Price  $1.50.     Art  Leather  Edition,  $2.00 

THE  BIG  BUSINESS  OF  LIFE 

Turning  Work  Into  Play 

Finding  happiness  in  our  work  rather  than  a  reward  tomorrow 
for  our  work;  finding  the  work  or  calling  that  calls  us  and  dis- 
covering the  joy  of  it. 

Library  Edition,  Price  $1.50.     Art  Leather  Edition,  $2.00 

IT'S  UP  TO  YOU! 

Are  You  Shaking  Vp  Or  Rattling  DownT 
"Just  as  good  as  the  Message  to  Garcia.     Would  rather  be 

author  of  it  than  President  of  the  Bank. " — John  A.  Carroll,  Pres., 

Hyde  Park  State  Bank,  Chicago,  III. 

(Booklet)  Price  3£c  Postpaid.  Gift  Edition  in  Art  Leather,  foe. 

THE  BEST  IS  YET  TO  COME 

Go  On  South 

With  rare  good  humor  and  homely  philosophy  the  lives  of  men 
are  paralleled  to  the  great  Mississippi  River. 

"We  are  impressed  with  Mr.  Parlette's  style  of  writing  and 
want  400  copies." — Fred  W.  Stone,  Review  of  Reviews. 
(Another  Booklet.)      Price  jfc  Postpaid. 

THE  SALVATION  OF  A  SUCKER 

"We  gave  this  booklet,  to  our  people  not  only  to  inculcate  in 
them  the  principles  of  true  thrift,  but  to  place  them  upon  their 
guard  against  salesmen  of  questionable  propositions." — National 
Cash  Register  Co.,  Dayton,  Ohio. 

(Another  Booklet)    Price  35C  Postpaid. 

Parlette-Padget  Company 

122  So.  Michigan  Ave.,  Chicago 

Quantity  quotations  on  request 


O  U  1  I  £  UOOOIU900 


